Ph.D.
,
Oceanography

To explain the lack of marine food production, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oceanographer Frank Schwing said, "The upwelling that we normally expect in the springtime hasn't kicked in.

A strong, cold upwelling in the Pacific Ocean this summer also produced ample food along the California coast, resulting in a bumper crop of herring, sardine and anchovy, said Frank Schwing, director of environmental research at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Santa Cruz, a division of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

But there's a gaping hole in that news: Schwing said the population of krill has mysteriously crashed in the ocean.
This zooplankton, which resembles a tiny shrimp, is a key salmon food.

Several bird species that depend on krill have also crashed, Schwing said, such as the Cassin's auklet, a seabird that nests on the Farallone Islands.
Also, whales that normally gorge on krill shifted to eating fish.

"Historically there's a strong relationship between abundance of krill and the amount of upwelling that occurs," said Schwing.

Dr. Frank Schwing, Director of the Environmental Research Division for the Southwest Fisheries Science Center of NOAA Fisheries Service, presents "Climate Change in California Coastal Waters: Economic, Social and Intrinsic Impacts on Our Marine Ecosystem."His lecture explores research-based trends in climate change and how the California coast is being impacted.

"That's something we're seeing along the California coast," said Frank Schwing, an oceanographer with the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Pacific Grove.

Although large bodies of oxygen-poor water far offshore are normal, the rapid expansion of these waters is not.
And scientists link it, in part, to climate change, Schwing said.

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But the expansion of these large volumes of hypoxic water far off the California coast does increase the odds they could reach the coastline, Schwing said.
It also narrows the band of oxygen-rich surface waters far offshore that can sustain life.

"The implication is it's easier to create these hypoxic events," Schwing said.